Brainless in Seattle

I have consciously avoided posting anything about recent events and social unrest, aside from the government-imposed house arrest related to the virus, but that situation in Seattle has now been deemed worthy of observation and comment.  If you're of the snowflake type, you might want to stop here because of the possibility of you not liking what you are about to read.  If you're not of the snowflake type, then odds are you're going to find yourself in a safe space, but without coloring books and therapy dogs. 

As you no doubt know, a bunch of "activists" in Seattle have seized control of the Capitol Hill district, and immediately started calling it "CHAZ".....Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.  The first thing these activists did was erect barricades around it, and not even being aware of their hypocrisy in being against the border wall.  Many of the guards are carrying guns, which is legal and their right to do so, but again they're unaware of their hypocrisy in wanting to outlaw the types of guns that they're carrying. 

It gets better.  This morning there was talk of renaming it "CHOP", as in Capitol Hill Occupied Protest.  Some of the movers and shakers within that entity are now saying they're not trying to secede, which explains why the signs they put up saying "YOU ARE NOW LEAVING THE USA" have been taken down and are no longer available in Google searches.  "CHOP" might be more accurate as that an "autonomous zone" would not have to be soliciting donations in the form of cash, cigarettes, liquor, food, and the like. 

So what do we do about this mess in Seattle?

One, we can do nothing.  This is hoping that the activists will get tired of it all and then go home.  In some situations that might work.  Whatever happened to "Occupy Wall Street"?  Have you heard anything from them lately? 

The problem with that is that Organized Media and some fatass politicians don't want this CHAZ/CHOP thing to go away anytime soon.  You have to wonder what they want out of this.  Do they want a civil war?  Are they hoping for some extremists from the other end of the spectrum to show up with their weapons and then starting something?  Odds are those other types might regard that as a waste of their time and ammunition, and they'd rather be doing what they are doing now instead of doing something about this. 

Two, we can build a wall around CHAZ/CHOP.  No one goes in.  No one comes out.  No commodities are allowed to breach that wall in either direction.  It won't result in another Kurt Russell movie, but it might have the effect of starving them out.

There's a problem with that too.  What about the civil rights of residents who are trapped within that barricade?  Many people regard that area as still being United States soil, and the residents as being willing citizens.  Do we punish them along with the activists?

Three.....send in the Marines.  Just go ahead and invade them, take it over, and then place them under military occupation.  Eisenhower had to send in the 82nd Airborne to enforce desegregation in some places in the South, so there's precedent for military action.  But does this go beyond the scope of what we have a military for?  Before we answer that, didn't we send an Army into the Confederate States of America to quell a rebellion, and take back the states that seceded?  How do we argue that this is not an option?

One thing I think is clear.  President Trump has told the local government there to fix it, or he will.  Is he bluffing?  Does he mean that?  I think he does. 

It doesn't appear that Seattle will fix this anytime soon.  The police chief is saying that it wasn't her idea to abandon Capitol Hill.  The mayor, well she's suffering from the Neville Chamberlain Syndrome.  Governor Inslee claimed that he didn't know what was happening, so it's not like he can be relied on knowing what to do.

Regardless of how this plays out, we're in for some interesting news. 

And soon.

It's Still Going Good

It's hard to believe that it's already been over one month in the new job.  I have been very busy, I've gotten two people I know hired (and two referral bonuses are pending), a third might get an offer this week (and that would be a third referral bonus pending) and I'm already helping out the President/CEO with a task.

No, I can't talk very much about it.  We are in that sector of aerospace that is very healthy right now.  One other local company is not doing well, but they've brought that on themselves. 

That's as far as I'm going to get with this post.

I'm putting in some long hours, but I'm having a great deal of fun in this job.